Study: Alcohol and Drug Abuse in U.S. Military is a “Public Health Crisis”

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The escalation in alcohol and drug abuse in the U.S. military has been well-documented over the past decade, but the Defense Department continues to use outmoded strategies for diagnosing, treating and preventing substance abuse among military personnel.

This was the finding of a major new study conducted by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences. The study calls the current level of substance abuse among troops a “public health crisis.”

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Military Funds Development of Anti-Suicide Nasal Spray

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With mental disorders among U.S. military personnel at an all-time high,

the Army is actively researching tools to combat depression and suicide. One of the many military-funded research projects is evaluating the feasibility of using a nasal spray to quickly relieve symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts.

Colonel Carl Castro, head of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program, recently spoke to NBC News about the military’s search for evidence-based treatments for common mental disorders. Nearly $3 million has been funded by the Army for a three-year project to develop and test the anti-suicide nasal spray, with the goal of receiving FDA approval for both the medication and the nasal spray form of delivery.…

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Caravan for Peace Calls for End of Mexican Drug Violence

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A group of activists are traveling across the U.S. to protest the way the Mexican government has handled its war on drugs. The “Caravan for Peace” will journey 6,000 miles by bus and on foot and visit 25 cities to call for an end to the violence that has left 60,000 people dead and another 10,000 missing since 2006.…

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Drug Abuse Increasing in Orange County California

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Prescription drug abuse among teens has been growing in Orange County, California. Considered an epidemic by the authorities, research has shown that 1 in every 10 seniors in high school have claimed they have taken Vicodin without having a prescription. Authorities have said that teens do not expect any consequences and they don’t think about the fact that something bad could happen to them such as death. Many families have been through the death of a teen from the abuse of prescription drugs. Traffic fatalities are now outnumbered by the deaths caused by overdoses on prescription drugs. Once teens are addicted they usually go on to other drugs such as heroin which has the same effect as OxyContin but at a lower price. …

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Pharmacies Seek Safeguards from Armed Robberies

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For many pharmacists in America, a job that was once pleasurable has become highly stressful.

Pharmacies across the country have been hit by armed drug addicts and drug dealers seeking painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and other controlled medications.

These robberies have the potential of turning violent. In Long Island, six people died in 2011 in two separate pharmacy robberies located less than 30 miles apart.…

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Irate Father Destroys Head Shop After Sons Bath Salts Overdose

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A man from Jefferson County in New York was arrested last week after he took a baseball bat to the head shop where his son purchased the bath salts that he overdosed on.

Daniel Avery reportedly entered Tebbs Head Shop when it opened and requested to buy bath salts.

When the clerk showed Avery a variety of bath salt products that could be purchased, Avery “snapped” into action.…

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Opioids and the War Against Drugs in America – 20 Years Later

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The highly under-published problem of opioid prescription drug abuse actually is one of the main causes of our ongoing drug war.  This drug war is currently being waged locally and nearby is reaching fever pitches in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Opioid painkillers are a class of psychoactive substances that are mainly used for pain management and include codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone (among others).

Today, the extreme consumption of prescription opioids greatly surpasses that of any of our previous drug crises by all measures and accounts, including heroin in the 1960s and 1970s, and crack cocaine in the 1980s and 1990s.…

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Update on Bath Salt Attacker

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Bath salts made national headlines on May 26, 2012 in Miami, Florida in one of the most gruesome acts of violence in recent history. 

A naked man was found chewing off the face of another naked man on the side of the road.  When approached by police officers and ordered to stop, the suspect (Rudy Eugene) just looked at the officers, growled, and began chewing on the victims flesh again.  Police officers then shot the suspect but the first shot was ignored by the suspect.  The man was eventually shot multiple times and killed by the police.  Both the suspect and victim were homeless at the time of the incident.  The victim, identified as Ronald Poppo remains in critical condition.…

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Marijuana Abuse and the Legalization Debate

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The debate is long-lasting and as controversial as ever:  should marijuana use be legalized? Advocates of the legalization of the drug maintain that its usage does not involve health complications—at least none that are as significant or harmful as the ones that arise through inhaling cigarette smoke.  Additionally, they suggest that marijuana—most commonly used for medicinal and recreational purposes—poses no serious threat to society as a whole.  Beliefs such as these, regardless of veracity, have led to marijuana being the most widely used and abused drug.  Only alcohol consumption rivals it.…

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